Definition of roman à clef in English:

noun (plural romans à clef pronounced same)

It is the crudest roman-à-clef, glaringly derivative and creakingly obvious.

Although Murdoch's novels cannot be read, strictly speaking, as romans à clef, she projected aspects of herself and her friends onto her characters, sometimes onto several characters in the same novel.

She published several novels and memoirs, including The New Atalantis, a roman à clef (published with a Key to its characters) in which she attacked various Whigs and people of note.